Once again I bow humbly before the collective wisdom of the Forum. My wife has been after me—with good reason—to get a replacement for her ragged 2006 white Macbook. It's really long in the tooth. Her needs are the most basic: MS Office, mostly Word and PP, email, and browsing the web. I think she would be happy to keep using it, but for the problems it has on a lot of web sites.

We'd like to get her something later, capable of rendering current sites properly. Money is a big issue, so for now we're willing to tolerate something that might be out of the update loop in a few years. I'm thinking a 13"MBP from around 2009-2010. My C2D mini works well enough, so an equivalent MBP would get us by. The "new" unit would get an SSD right away, and maybe a battery. I'm not familiar with the video chip problem, so would appreciate being steered clear of models with that issue. TIA

Like others have said - mid-2012 MBP, just add a SSD and 8GB RAM. It will be supported by Apple for the next 4 years since it was just discontinued last year. They are going for $700+ most places as that is the last model that could easily be upgraded, didn't need dongles, and had an optical drive.

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Video chip issues were mainly on the 15" models (and the G3/G4 12" iBooks), so not an issue to worry about.

What OS version is she currently running and what version would you like to run on the replacement? It seems like browsers and OS versions are more of the cause of the problems she's encountering.

A really cheap solution is the very last FW-400 White MacBook, MC240LL/A, mid 2009. They can be found for under $200. It would look identical to what she currently has, and can use the same charger, battery, and even hard drive for a very quick transition.

But they're getting a bit old now, the highest OS they can run is 10.11 (El Capitan). RAM is getting expensive too.

But these days, the 13" MBP from 2011 or 2012 would be choices to consider. 2011 (USB 2) if you need to run SnowLeopard, 2012 (USB 3) if not.

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I just (personally) love the older MacBook Airs - super portable, or hook them up to a screen, mouse and keyboard. Not very upgradeable at all, but if she can live within 128 GB, they already have an SSD, and a 2014 model can be had for under $400 on eBay.

Edit: Of course, you can get them with more RAM and a bigger SSD, but they cost a bit more. On the other hand, with some patience you can often snag a good deal from an individual owner with high feedback (which I would tend to favor over one of these crank-em-out "refurb" large-volume sellers).

Yup, 2012 13" MBP with an SSD if you can swing it. 2012's add USB 3 for a bit more future proofing. No need to worry about video issues with 13" as it was the discrete video cards on some 15" models that had issues. 13" are all integrated graphics.

Also consider the 13" 2012 MacBook Air. Comes with the SSD already, but that also means upgrading (to a larger size) will be more expensive due to the custom form factor. And RAM is fixed at 4GB or 8GB and not upgradable.

My wife and I have late 2011 13" MacBooks and are very happy with. RAM is not that expensive and easy enough to upgrade (as I did). I have no problems on mine, running High Sierra. A little slow running Office 2008, but when you consider that it still RUNS 2008 software is acceptable.

I'm getting ready to hit the road for two months and put away my 2012 MacBook Air and my 2011 MacBook Pro and picked up a couple of used Unibody MacBooks-the 2010 White ones. Dropped SSD's in them, upped the ram to 8 gb each (that was more expensive than I thought it would be) and I'm happy as a clam. I think I have about $300 in the pair, running High Sierra and all of the apps you mentioned.

Is the interest in a 13" size because she likes that size or because you're thinking it will keep costs down?

As others have said, integrated graphics in those smaller sizes can sometimes be their limiting factor...

Like others, I have a hidden agenda - I've got a 2010 15" MBP I started to clean up for sale (meaning I need to put a suitable OS on the 128GB SSD that's in it - it's also got an empty OWC data-doubler).

Quoteclay
The 2012 pre-retina 13" MBP's are quite nice. Drop in a SSD. Should be able to find a nice one well under $500. Maybe even $300-$400 if you are patient, or get lucky on a local craigslist sale.